20 YEARS OF REGULATION OF THE STOCK MARKET / FLORIAN GOLDSTEIN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE BURSA PRESS GROUP: "Elitism demands morality and self-awareness from the stock market"

The "BURSA" newspaper and the "Millenium" Financial Training Center have celebrated the anniversary of 20 years of oversight of the stock market, in the Parliament's palace, a festivity which the guests considered as classy and a great success.

Florian Goldstein, the president of the "BURSA" press group, said, in the opening of the event, that the regulatory activity was preceded by the draft laws for the securities market, which were initiated by the NBR as early as 1991-1992, and the CNVM was the successor of the Securities Agency (which later became the National Securities Agency), created in 1993, in the Ministry of Finance, meaning that we are actually celebrating more than 20 years.

The National Securities Commission (CNVM), currently merged into the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF), was set up in October 1994, for the purpose of regulating, overseeing and developing the stock market.

According to Florian Goldstein, many criticisms can be levied against the regulators, and "BURSA" has frequently voiced them, whenever it deemed it necessary, sometimes even getting into open conflicts with members of the regulator.

"Similarly, the oversight activity is liable to be criticized, in certain cases, and in those particular situations, it wasn't just BURSA that had something to say, but the judicial system as well", Mr. Goldstein further said.

He added: "Regardless of the slip-ups and the episodic conflicts between the regulator and our newspaper, I was pleased with the proposal, made by the former CNVM vice-president Mihai Radu, to organize this gala together, because to me it seems important to emphasize the fact that we all belong to an elite community, to finance.

And elitism demands morality and self-awareness from our community - those who are regulated and those that do the supervision, legislators and journalists -, it forces us to be aware of the part that we should be playing in the country's economic and social life.

Along this line, of the self-awareness of the stock market community, I am trying to suggest that any sheep, be it black of white, is part of the flock (I'll concede that this metaphor is not exactly elitist).

That is why I have invited everybody to this gala and I was asked what < everybody meant >, I have rephrased it like this: < everybody who is free >.

Those that enter the market wear a seal that makes them one of us.

And even if they do leave the market, they remain one of us and in our history.

May all of our 20 million citizens wear our seal and become one of us!

We await the rest of the planet, and we even accept aliens. Many happy returns!"

• Mircea Ursache: "I don't support the idea that we've had nothing positive all this time"

Mircea Ursache, the vice-president of the Financial Oversight Authority in charge of the capital market, said, Tuesday night, that he doesn't agree with the idea that we didn't have anything good in all this time: "The ASF is not a new beginning in the regulation and oversight of the market. We are continuing the work that other people did over the course of 20 years, in a different organizational form".

Mircea Ursache emphasized the fact that the event does not represent a celebration of the ASF, but rather, one of the former National Securities Commission, of an army of 300 people who worked there day after day - experts, regulatory, licensing and oversight specialists, department heads and directors.

Mircea Ursache thanked the people who worked for the former CNVM for their performance.

Mihai Radu, vice-president of the CNVM between 1994-2000 and the honorary president of the "Millenium" Financial Training Center, presented a short history of the CNVM.

"In the first five years that followed the Commission, about 240 securities companies were created, currently called SSIFs, of which about 40 exist today, 15 investment funds were created and the Romanian stock exchange was inaugurated".

Mihai Radu advised the ASF to be more flexible in its relationship with the companies it regulates, because in his opinion, the audit teams are usually too harsh on minor mistakes. "Companies should be sanctioned for causing losses to investors, regardless of whether they invested in the stock market, in insurance policies or in private pensions", said Mr. Radu, who added: "Other than that, the ASF should also support issuers, because their number is dwindling by the day and I am afraid that the ASF will disband".

• Mişu Negriţoiu: "There are lots of things to clean up, but I am convinced that we are not far from the final success"

In a video message, ASF president Mişu Negriţoiu said that the stock market was created thanks to the enthusiasm of several individuals.

"Unfortunately, the capital market is not the result of a coherent, long-term project, with fixed objectives, and this is actually coming from me, who have been involved in the preliminary stages of the capital market", Mr. Negriţoiu said. "Today, we will have to review, either quickly or slowly, what we have done over the years, and to complete a project which started out of enthusiasm and which needs to be integrated into an orderly world, a European market. There are lots of things to clean up, but I am convinced that we are not far from the final success".

In 2013, the overseers of the stock market, of the insurance sector and of private pensions were merged into the Financial Oversight Authority.